Youthtown to Participate in Battle of Passchendaele Centenary

10 July 2017

The Ministry of Youth Development (MYD) and Veteran Affairs, New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) are giving 15 young people aged 17-19 the opportunity to travel to Belgium for the Battle of Passchendaele centenary (12 October 2017), with the New Zealand Defence Force contingent.

Youthtown has 2 participants attending, Milan Silu’uga and Shard Hubbard. Both participants were selected by a panel of MYD and NZDF officials based on the young people’s achievements, participation in community and as acknowledgement for overcoming adversity. Milan and Shard were participants in the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme delivered by Youthtown in January 2017 and also ambassadors for the Ministry of Health Rheumatic Fever Youth Awareness Campaign 2016/2017.

Terence Slade (Youthtown Team Leader – Youth Auckland) has also been selected by NZDF as the Youth Worker Chaperone for the 3 week trip with stopovers in Australia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Greece, United States of America, and Belgium. He will be representing Youthtown during the trip, sending back regular updates and media coverage of the group’s experiences.

The youth worker chaperone role:
Terence will be part of a multidisciplinary team that supports the youth ambassadors before, during and after the trip to Belgium. The main focus of the role is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the youth ambassadors. Terence will be supporting the youth ambassadors at the August training event in Wellington where the youth ambassadors will work together to create their collective goals and code of conduct for the trip.

Battle of Passchendaele Commemoration:
The New Zealand National Commemoration for the Battle of Passchendaele will take place at Tyne Cot Cemetery, near Zonnebeke, Belgium at 11am 12 October 2017. This is the largest Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery in the world. It contains 520 New Zealand graves and further New Zealanders are listed on the New Zealand Memorial to the Missing in the Battles of Passchendaele.